Mushroom
By Changming Yuan
With neither dignity
Of a canopy
Nor myth
Of an aureole
Your cap is simply too small
Your stem too short
Your geared-bones too tender
Yet your fleshy body has inspired
Myriads of umbrellas
To shield gods and humans alike
Against rain or heat
Against history
Changming Yuan, author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Politics and Poetics (2009), is a three-time Pushcart nominee who grew up in rural China and authored several books before moving to Canada. Currently Yuan teaches independently in Vancouver and has poems appearing in Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Exquisite Corpse, London Magazine and more than 350 other literary journals/anthologies worldwide |
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